About

Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy is a podcast hosted by author David Barr Kirtley and produced by Lightspeed Magazine editor John Joseph Adams. The show features conversations about fantasy & science fiction in books, movies, games, and comics, as well as related subjects such as science, history, and critical thinking. The show has over 15,000 regular listeners and has racked up over 2 million total downloads.

Guests include novelists such as George R. R. Martin (A Game of Thrones), Philip Pullman (The Golden Compass), Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale), Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), Charlaine Harris (the Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood series), Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Junot Diaz (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao), William Gibson (Neuromancer), Neal Stephenson (Anathem), Cory Doctorow (Little Brother), and Ursula K. Le Guin (The Left Hand of Darkness); filmmakers such as Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead), David Cronenberg (A History of Violence), John Cleese (Monty Python), Chris Williams (Big Hero 6), and Felicia Day (The Guild); comic book writers such as Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) and Mike Mignola (Hellboy); video game designers such as Ron Gilbert (The Secret of Monkey Island) and Richard Garriott (Ultima); nonfiction writers such as Paul Krugman (New York Times columnist), Naomi Klein (The Shock Doctrine), Mary Roach (Stiff), and Walter Isaacson (Steve Jobs); and scientists such as Brian Greene (Fabric of the Cosmos), Neil deGrasse Tyson (Nova scienceNOW), Lawrence M. Krauss (The Physics of Star Trek), and Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion).

Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy has appeared on recommended podcast lists from NPR, The Guardian, The A.V. Club, CBC Radio, io9, Omni, Medium, and Popular Mechanics.
CBC Radio writes, “You may not think a podcast about science fiction and fantasy would be the place to go for political insight, but — it is. Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy manages to be more insightful about politics than many pundits.”

The show launched in January 2010. Season One (2010) was produced for Tor.com, the website of a major science fiction book publisher. Season Two (2011) was produced for io9.com, a science fiction and futurism blog owned by Gawker Media. Seasons Three (2012), Four (2013), Five (2014), and Six (2015) were produced for Wired.com, the website of the popular tech magazine Wired. John Joseph Adams served as full-time co-host for the first 100 episodes. To learn more, check out The History of Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Our logo was designed by artist Blake Reynolds. Disclosure: Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy receives free review copies of many of the books we discuss, and occasionally free movie tickets or screeners.